[Source: Martin Cizmar, Phoenix New Times] — Kimber Lanning, the prominent Phoenix record store owner turned community activist, has released a statement saying she plans to step away from her Roosevelt Row gallery/venue, Modified Arts. Lanning has become more and more involved in big-time community planning issues in recent years and says she plans to retain ownership of the building, but will put a husband and wife team of Kim Larkin and Adam Murray in charge of the to-be-renovated gallery.

Here’s the really bad news: “[T]he big, indie rock shows you’ve come to know and love at Modified will have to find another home. The programming will be changing to better accommodate a gallery, so the slant will be more experimental and progressive.” Modified Arts as it exists now will close the second weekend in December and re-open with a new look in late January. Uh-oh. As the space — just for starters — employs the best bouncer in Phoenix and housed the best little show of the year, there’s good reason to wonder just how big of a disaster this will be for the Phoenix music scene.